If you’ve spent time researching gaming PCs on the internet, you'll apparently be bombarded with basic archetypal numbers and specifications. It can be overwhelming, abnormally back compared to a one-size-fits-all console. Not anybody has the knowledge, backbone or alike the time to body and agitation shoot a new PC. Don’t worry! There are affluence of gaming PCs out there that don’t crave any of that. Buy it, about-face it on, go through some simple bureaucracy steps, download your amateur and get into it! Whether you body your own PC or buy a prebuilt one, we all adulation our gaming aloof the same.
There are about three way to go about affairs a gaming PC. You can buy one from the brand of Allowance or HP. PCs from these big name brands are calmly accessible, reliable, and usually action the best assurance and tech support. They ability amount more, but they’re a acceptable advantage for a gamer who brand to comedy games, and not anticipate so abundant about what's central the PC that runs them.
The additional way is from a bazaar PC builder. Aftershock and to an extent, Thermaltake fit into this category. Affairs one of these can be a absolute pleasure. You’re able to kit out your PC with the apparatus and and an artful to clothing you. Affairs one of these PCs will crave a bit added abstruse knowledge, but the end aftereffect is that you’ll feel like its a apparatus that's different to you, and one that the gamer abutting aperture doesn't have.
The third way is to go to a PC abundance or e-tailer. A armpit like Mwave has an accomplished PC configurator area you can basically accept any affectionate of basic you like, abrogation the technicians to body it. This way it's about the aforementioned as architecture your own PC, but you’re accepting addition abroad to do the bedraggled work, so to speak.
We’ve got systems recommendations all the way from the account end of the bazaar to appropriately exceptional gear. A account arrangement is all you’ll charge for a atom of Fortnite or PUBG, admitting a aerial end arrangement will do a august job apprehension at 4K with admirable ray tracing. Of course, aloof because we’re calling them gaming PCs, it doesn’t beggarly you can’t use them for aggregate abroad too.
No amount your budget, or what affectionate of amateur you play, there’s a PC actuality for everyone. Analysis out our top picks!
Best gaming PCs
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Our favourite Aftershock Ultracore config:
Aftershock is aSingaporean PC architect with an operation in Australia that includes a baroque exhibit in Melbourne. Aftershock accomplish some attractive PCs and it was the almsman of the coveted 'Best Desktop PC Builder' Australian PC awards for two years in a row. Aftershock may not accept the cast acceptance of an Alienware or HP, but it’s absolutely a cast you should analysis out. It alike offers laptops and workstations.
If you buy a PC from a big banker like JB Hi-Fi or Bing Lee, you’re ashore with the apparatus that appear with it. Maybe you’ll appetite added RAM or a faster cartoon agenda to comedy accepted games. You ability be able to accommodate some changes with the salesperson, but beware of advantageous through the nose. With an Aftershock Ultracore, you're not ashore with what the banker has in banal out the back. It’s absolutely accessible and a lot of fun to clothier a body to clothing your budget.
It’s accurate that you’ll charge a amount of ability about PC components, but for the best part, the Aftershock armpit is actual able-bodied set up and accessible to navigate. Anniversary basic best is listed forth with the amount difference, and there’s a actual accessible blueprint that shows what aftereffect any changes accept on the achievement of the PC.
Do you appetite a bigger SSD or two, or a huge adamantine drive? 32GB of RAM for a gaming arrangement is usually enough, but you can add added if you like. Our analysis arrangement came with an RTX 3070 Ti. If you appetite to burst out, you can put a 3090 Ti and a 2,000W ability accumulation in if you absolutely want. At atomic you apperceive you’ll be all set for abutting bearing hardware!
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Aftershock systems are customisable able-bodied above the amount best of hardware. There are a ambit of administration options too. Do you appetite lots of RGB or none at all? Added fans? How about cable sleeving or alike a ancillary army LCD display? It goes above alike that. If you appetite a PC that’s absolutely unique, you can get the ancillary console laser engraved with your own design, and you can get your own different GPU backplate.
The abject Ultracore starts at AU$3,150. That’s not absolutely cheap; you'll get a Ryzen 7 5800X, RTX 3070 Ti, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and AIO cooling. And that’s a acceptable blueprint by any measure. If you kit the arrangement out with everything, you’re attractive at AU$15,000 or more! But if you did that, you’d accept a PC that wouldn’t attending out of abode at a all-around barter show.
That’s the adorableness of an Aftershock system. They’re upgradeable, the body affection is additional to none and you can get it congenital according to your needs and budget. Add a bit of your personality to its attending and you’ve got a beauteous PC.
Read our abounding Aftershock Ultracore gaming PC review
It’s not accessible to buy a 18-carat gaming desktop for about AU$1,500. Well, at atomic one that’s not as anemic as a wet cardboard bag. Mwave’s Respawn Ninja Abstruseness gaming PC delivers a hasty bulk of gaming achievement for your dollar. It includes our favourite account gaming CPU, the Intel Amount i5 12400F and a acceptable amount Radeon RX 6600 cartoon card.
The admittance of an RX 6600 makes it a competent apparatus for a acceptable affection 1080p monitor. It will be able to handle added than a few 1440p as well, abnormally if you accredit AMD's FSR angel upscaling technology.
It comes with a ample 1TB SSD. Admitting the Acute P2 isn't the fastest drive around, I’ll booty that over a abate and faster drive. 2x8GB of DDR4-3600 and appearance including Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5G LAN add up to a able arrangement for assignment or play. If you like RGB lighting, the Ninja Abstruseness is a acceptable choice, with four 12cm RGB admirers all controlled via Asus’ Ambience Accompany app.
The arrangement is able-bodied built, and arrives absolutely arranged with foam, attention it from absent-minded couriers. Should article go wrong, it's got a two-year RTB warranty.
For AU$1,599, it'll be appealing boxy to acquisition a bigger spec. Abiding it's not activity to be a 4K gaming powerhouse, but you shouldn’t apprehend that. If you’re ailing of consoles (or can't acquisition one to buy) this is the affectionate of PC that's a acceptable aboriginal footfall into the apple of PC gaming. Booty it home, bung in your adviser and peripherals, run through the simple Windows bureaucracy accomplish and you've got yourself a able-bodied congenital and specced 2022 gaming PC.
Our favourite HP Augury 45L config:
The Omen 45L's design is more like a DIY PC than most off the shelf prebuilt desktops. It's big and imposing, it offers very good all round performance and its one year on-site warranty will appeal to users who want to enjoy the benefits of a PC without the hassles. Keep an eye out for periodic discounts.
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If you’ve anytime bought a laptop or desktop, you’ll be accustomed with HP. It’s the affectionate of PC you’re acceptable to appear beyond at a capital artery tech banker or at the glossy HP website. A name like HP carries weight and affairs a HP arrangement carries a amount of accord of apperception that appeals to buyers who may not be too tech savvy, preferring instead to adore gaming added than the arrangement that plays them
Having said that, it's adamantine not to be afflicted by the HP Augury 45L. It’s huge! It weighs in at over 22kg and it's over bisected a accent in height, so it's not the affectionate of apparatus you can ignore. And attending at those admirable RGB fans. I accept if you’ll absorb a bit of time admiring it! But there’s still an chaste attending overall. Its building attending is a lot subtler than some added desktops that attending like rejects from a Transformers movie. It’s a absolutely attractive machine.
The Augury 45L is accessible in mid- to high-end configurations, up to a 12900K and RTX 3090. The high-end versions go up to AU$8,000 or added which we absolutely can’t acclaim as we get afterpiece to the barrage of abutting gen CPUs and GPUs. The mid-range options are bigger value, and they accept acceptable advancement potential.
Perhaps the best different appropriate of the Augury 45L is its alleged ‘Cryo Chamber’ which is a abstracted cooling alcove at the top of the unit. It is mostly amenable for the acme of the unit. It houses the AIO radiator. It pulls air-conditioned air in from the alfresco of the chassis, ejecting it out the top. This gives it actual able cooling. Its not the aboriginal time we’ve apparent article like this, but it's auspicious to see HP cerebration alfresco the box. Literally.
The rear I/O is a bit on the attenuate ancillary but at atomic you get four USB ports at the advanced to accomplish up for it. It comes with Wi-Fi 6 and 1G LAN. 2.5G would be nice, but that’s arguably not as important as Wi-Fi on a arrangement like this.
The high-end Augury 45L options are ridiculously fast. We activated the 12700K and 3070 Ti model. It’s the affectionate of arrangement that will appropriately drive a 4K awning but it's apparently bigger ill-fitted to a aerial brace amount 2560 x 1440 screen. You’ll get buttery bland gameplay in all avant-garde games.
The HP Augury 45L is able-bodied congenital and actual attractive PC. It's absolutely expensive, but with its one year onsite warranty, it’s an amount that abounding will be blessed to pay for. Do accumulate an eye out for discounts though, and if you plan to buy anon from HP, it’s absolutely account giving them a alarm and haggling a bit. As the amount of cartoon cards falls, so should the amount of accomplished PCs.
Read our abounding HP Augury 45L review.
Our favourite Thermaltake Sub Aught config:
You ability be accustomed with Thermaltake's ample ambit of PC apparatus and cooling products, but did you apperceive it makes desktop gaming PCs too? In fact, some of them are actual absorbing indeed, so abundant so, the aggregation won the accolade for the best desktop PC maker at the 2022 Australian PC awards.
There are abounding systems to accept from. We like the Sub Aught in particular, as it appearance a alloy of able hardware, a brittle and apple-pie white artful and acceptable amount for money. There are a few altered agreement options with a best of AMD or Intel CPUs, and cartoon cards alignment up to an RTX 3080.
We chose a Sub Aught with an Intel Amount i5 12400F CPU, RTX 3060 cartoon agenda and 16GB of DDR4 memory. That's a acceptable solid mid-range gaming PC, and because it uses off the shelf components, it has advancement abeyant too. And there's one aspect that is decidedly interesting: the cooling.
Despite the actuality that the 12400F is a about air-conditioned and ability thrifty processor, Thermaltake chose a 360mm AIO aqueous acknowledgment brace with it. Is it overkill? Of course, but it does beggarly that there's abounding cooling allowance to add a faster CPU in the future, alike a abutting bearing one. If you're not abashed to pop the ancillary console off, it's a abundant way to add some added achievement on a year or two.
If you're afterwards a gaming PC from a big name, but you don't appetite the bloatware or bespoke designs of the big PC makers, the Thermaltake Sub Aught is absolutely account a look. Do analysis it out at TT's accomplice resellers Mwave or Scorptec as its generally cheaper than affairs it anon from Thermaltake.
Our favourite config:
Alienware systems have their own unique appeal and this spec, with its fast i7-12700 CPU and RTX 3080 graphics card is perfect for pumping out high frame rates in all modern games. Right now it's available at a good discount.
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Though they conceivably aren’t as clear as the absolutely conflicting aggressive Alienware PCs of the past, the Aurora R13 still has its own different allure. It’s no admiration they abide a accepted best of PC for gamers that acknowledge the whole, rather than what’s beneath the hood.
The Aurora R13 is accessible with a advanced ambit of options alpha with a 12400 and RTX 3060 all the way up to the best of the best, including the flagship RTX 3090 Ti and 128GB of RAM. But you’ll charge to be acquainted of limitations with the top blueprint systems, as it’s accessible to beat the cooling with a 12900K CPU. The bottom CPUs don’t run into that problem, which is why we acclaim a hardly worldlier spec.
Actually, the affairs are, you won’t pay abundant absorption to what’s beneath the awning above the best of cartoon card. The Aurora R13 is the affectionate of PC you buy to fit a assertive budget. You are able to body your own PC for cheaper, but that can be a altercation for non-tech adeptness gamers. Some bodies will aloof appetite to booty it home, bung it in and get gaming, animate style, and why not!
And that’s the key affairs point of Alienware systems. Their affluence of use and accessible accessibility. They affection actual acceptable afterwards auction support, a one year on-site assurance and the accord of apperception that comes with owning a PC from a big cast like Dell. It’s abating to apperceive that Allowance will attending afterwards you if you run into an affair post-sale.
Alienware PCs are expensive, but it’s important to attending accomplished the abounding account price. Alienware systems can generally be begin with abrupt discounts, and feel chargeless to accord them a alarm and argue a bit. Acquaint them you apprehend on PC Gamer that cartoon agenda prices are falling, and accordingly the accomplished arrangement should too!
As the barrage of abutting bearing accouterments comes closer, you ability be able to snag a absolute arrangement on an Aurora R13. Accumulate an eye on PC Gamer. If we appear beyond a analgesic deal, we’ll column it!
Read our abounding Alienware Aurora R13 review.
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Best gaming PC FAQ
Why buy a prebuilt gaming PC?
One of the best cogent advantages of architecture your PC is the adeptness to hand-pick every distinct basic in the system. This enables you to booty your time arcade about for deals and award the best aggregate of genitalia to fit your account and achievement needs. The downside for best amateur builders is that this action can booty some time and account absolutely a cephalalgia if article goes wrong. You alone get warranties on the alone components, not your accomplished build, and this is area the best prebuilt gaming PCs shine.
What do you get for your money in a prebuilt PC?
When you pay the exceptional to configure or acquirement a prebuilt PC, you pay for added than aloof the parts. You pay for assurance service, support, and accord of apperception that professionals put your arrangement together. These are some of the things we amount awful back because what the best gaming PC is. We additionally attending at added affairs points, like design, upgradability, and annihilation you wouldn't be able to do back architecture it yourself.
What sets a prebuilt apparatus afar from a DIY build?
One of the best cogent factors that accomplish PCs angle afar from the antagonism is the design. Prebuilt systems like the Alienware Aurora R11 or Bandit One use different centralized anatomy designs you wouldn't be able to acquirement back architecture it yourself. You can booty some abundance in alive that these systems were advised and congenital distinctively to abode your configuration, admitting that can accomplish advance added awkward after on bottomward the line.
When we set out to accept our top choices of prebuilt gaming PCs, we attending at about every above architect and arrangement integrator to acquisition the best aggregate of value, reliability, chump feedback, design, and achievement for assorted budgets and needs.
